Full HD camera, burn on HD on DVD, etc?

[godwentpunk]

I've been for the last 10 years transferring my HI8 videos to DVD. I was using Pinnacle Studio 9 to capture and burn my DVD's. All was well until my camcorder died.

Just yesterday, I picked up a JVC GZ-HM200 (Full HD -- 1920x1080) camcorder. For now, I am using the XP setting (not the HD). Using the OEM software, my DVDs looked like crap, I thought they could be better. I did some research and I did find some tools (as well as options posted on this forum) so I've got what I think are many apps to use. I've been playing with Emicsoft to convert the JVC files (.mts). What I am lacking is the basic knowledge of what I should be shooting for.

Some questions I think I'd like to know is:

1. I don't have a BluRay burner, so I know burning HD is out of the question. I do have a Sony DVD burner, about 1 year old. Does my DVD have an impact on what resolution I can make my videos?

2. I'd like to burn my DVD at the best resolution possible without investing into a BluRay. What resolution should that be? I am using NERO to burn my videos but it looks like the best resolution is 720x480. I did download NERO 9 to see if I can get some better results.

3. Is there some codec that I should be converting my .mts files to? vob? avi? mpeg? DivxHD?

4. I do have a HD TV as well as some plain TV's. I've been using my XBOX 360 to play my HD videos on my HD TV. I'd like to create a DVD that looks good on on my HDTV. My guess is that if my DVD's look good on a HD, they'll look ok on a standard TV.

Am I going in circles here? Is there a better, faster way to do this?

I'm certain I'll have more questions as I move forward but thanks in advance to all those willing to help me.

joe...

[edDV]

Currently there is one SD DVD standard playable everywhere and HD players (Blu-Ray + hardware media players) that play a subset of many HD formats.

One strategy is to convert every source to a playable DVD.

Another is to select a player such as the XBox360 or Blu-Ray and convert to formats supported by that player.

For home shot camcorder video, it is a good idea to archive the source format so one can start over in the future when player formats change.

[guns1inger]

1. I don't have a BluRay burner, so I know burning HD is out of the question. I do have a Sony DVD burner, about 1 year old. Does my DVD have an impact on what resolution I can make my videos?

No bluray burner means no bluray discs however you do have choices. if you have a capable Bluray player or PS3 then you can encode HD to create AVCHD on DVD. Depending on your quality tolerance, you can get well over an hour of 720p material on a DVD9 disc. If you only have a DVD player then you will be restricted to DVD output only. In that case, see What is DVD (top left corner) for the specs.

2. I'd like to burn my DVD at the best resolution possible without investing into a BluRay. What resolution should that be? I am using NERO to burn my videos but it looks like the best resolution is 720x480. I did download NERO 9 to see if I can get some better results.

Skip Nero if quality is your main aim. Learn how to encode properly with something that gives you more control, such as HCEnc, or use a front end like AVStoDVD to control HCEnc for you. Again, if you can only create DVDs then your best resolution is limited to 720 x 480 (NTSC) or 720 x 576 (PAL).

3. Is there some codec that I should be converting my .mts files to? vob? avi? mpeg? DivxHD?

For Bluray or AVCHD, H264. For DVD, mpeg-2. VOB is a container format used by DVDs, and will be created during the authoring process. It is best not to convert directly to VOB unless you are getting a fully authored DVD structure as well.

4. I do have a HD TV as well as some plain TV's. I've been using my XBOX 360 to play my HD videos on my HD TV. I'd like to create a DVD that looks good on on my HDTV. My guess is that if my DVD's look good on a HD, they'll look ok on a standard TV.

Quality comes from having a good source video, using good techniques to convert it to DVD, encoding it well, and authoring it properly. Don't try to shove too much on a disc (60 - 70 minutes for highest quality), don't encode with toys like Nero (learn to get your hands dirty, or don't make quality a priority), and understand what DVD is, what HD is, and the differences. Set your expectations accordingly.

If you are happy to create files that can be played on the Xbox but are not playable in a standard DVD player, you could create HD mp4 files using something like Xvid4PSP and burning them as data.

[godwentpunk]

thanks everyone for the fast response. You guys are GOOD!

I guess my formatting issues come from my JVC camcorder creating .mts files. I installed AVStoDVD but it will not see the .mts files. I used the EMIC software to create DivX files. I was then able to usfAVStoDVD. The DVD is completely terrible on my HDTV. I need to see how it looks on a standard TV.

joe...

[edDV]

thanks everyone for the fast response. You guys are GOOD!

I guess my formatting issues come from my JVC camcorder creating .mts files. I installed AVStoDVD but it will not see the .mts files. I used the EMIC software to create DivX files. I was then able to usfAVStoDVD. The DVD is completely terrible on my HDTV. I need to see how it looks on a standard TV.

Back up and figure a strategy first. Do you want playable SD DVD as the target or HD XBox360 ?

If you want both you need two strategies. The more difficult is to get a JVC GZ-HM200 file to look good on an SD DVD.

[godwentpunk]

Back up and figure a strategy first. Do you want playable SD DVD as the target or HD XBox360 ?

If you want both you need two strategies. The more difficult is to get a JVC GZ-HM200 file to look good on an SD DVD.

um. I'd say standard DVD would be #1. The HD option is not that important right now. I guess I'm still getting my feet wet in all this.

I understand about things needing to be one way for each format. It's just that my DVD's that I created from my HI8 using Studio 9 looked very acceptable for both regular TV and when played via XBOX in HD. I was hoping to find another solution that would the best of both worlds again.

I'm still trying different file types convert my .mts files to.

joe...

[edDV]

Back up and figure a strategy first. Do you want playable SD DVD as the target or HD XBox360 ?

If you want both you need two strategies. The more difficult is to get a JVC GZ-HM200 file to look good on an SD DVD.

um. I'd say standard DVD would be #1. The HD option is not that important right now. I guess I'm still getting my feet wet in all this.

I understand about things needing to be one way for each format. It's just that my DVD's that I created from my HI8 using Studio 9 looked very acceptable for both regular TV and when played via XBOX in HD. I was hoping to find another solution that would the best of both worlds again.

I'm still trying different file types convert my .mts files to.

joe...

When you chose the JVC GZ-HM200 you implicitly checked the "I'm on my own" path to DVD button. That is unless they bundled a proprietary program.

Since you don't have Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro I can only observe and make suggestions. If you had those programs we would be converting to a format those programs could import.

[godwentpunk]

I guess you are right about getting the JVC. From the reviews, people complained about the .mts files. I got this camcorder for about $200 less than what they go for. Bestbuy disconntinued this model and had it at a blow-out price so it was hard to pass on a deal like this.

I was able to use emicsoft to convert my .mts files to DVD - PAL (mpeg2) .vob files at 720x567. I did download and used AVStoDVD to read this file and burn it. I do get a very acceptable picture on both my HDTV and regular TV. Unfortunately, it's trial and error to find something that works and looks good. I'm still going to try some others.

If anyone else has any good feedback/suggestions, keep them coming along.

This is good discussions and again, thanks to everyone on the forum and especially those taking time to help me.

joe...

[edDV]

Not that the JVC is bad, it is just that JVC follows their own drummer with non-standard MPeg2 or Mpeg4 formats that might be "better" if you understand their rationale. JVC is the typical engineer led company where best is shipped and customers must study up to understand why.

Not that the more popular AVCHD is much better. That too has a difficult path to a good DVD.

[guns1inger]

Try using mpeg-streamclip to repackage your mts files into an quicktime (MOV) container, which might be easier to work with. You may be able to do this with no quality loss at all.

[Baldrick]

I changed your subject. Please use something that ACTUALLY describes your topic. I should NOT have to click on the topic to read what it's about. You can change it also by click on the edit-button.

[godwentpunk]

I changed your subject. Please use something that ACTUALLY describes your topic. I should NOT have to click on the topic to read what it's about. You can change it also by click on the edit-button.

Good point and thanks for the adjustment!

joe...

[godwentpunk]

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update to my progress.

I have a JVC HD camcorder GZ-HM200 and I am taking movies using the XP option. I can download the .mts files to a directory on my PC.

From there, I am using an application called Emicsoft. It will convert my .mts files. I choose to use a codec called "MPEG2 PS HD". I selected the 1280x720 resolution @9000kbps. This convert my .mts files and they will now be a .mpeg file.

I then downloaded (from recommendations here) the full AVStoDVD applicaiton and installed everything. For the Filtering options, I selected FFMpegSource. I also tweaked a couple other options.

I can now create a DVD of my movies in a format that looks good on both a HDTV and a regular TV.

It still takes some time to go though all of the encoding process but I think I'm about 1/3 of the time that it used to take me and now, I have a better quality product.

So for anyone having to deal with those .mts files, this a solution that works good for me.

I'll try to put together some documentation and post it to the thread so I can give back to the forum.

joe...

[guns1inger]

You may or may not get better quality if you use a higher bitrate when you convert to the mpeg programme stream. If your software allows it, try encoding at 15000 kbps (15Mbps) instead of 9000 kbps.

[godwentpunk]

You may or may not get better quality if you use a higher bitrate when you convert to the mpeg programme stream. If your software allows it, try encoding at 15000 kbps (15Mbps) instead of 9000 kbps.

I did try some higher bitrates but it seems like 9000 is the highest I can go before my app Emicsoft crashes.

I'm now thinking of getting a HD burner which means that I may need to find some different apps.

joe...

[creamyhorror]

Why do you have to convert to MPEG2 with Emicsoft? Can't AVStoDVD do the conversion directly from the MTS? It seems like you're introducing a 2nd encode step, which wastes time and degrades your video's quality (worsened by the 9000Kbps limitation).

[godwentpunk]

AVStoDVD does not see my .mts files....but it does see .m2ts files. I wonder if I rename my .mts files to .m2ts, would AVStoDVD process it then? I know .mts and .m2ts are both MPEG2 Transport files.

And yes, I wish I could find something that would burn to DVD without having to recode.

joe...

[creamyhorror]

AVStoDVD does not see my .mts files....but it does see .m2ts files. I wonder if I rename my .mts files to .m2ts, would AVStoDVD process it then? I know .mts and .m2ts are both MPEG2 Transport files.

Apparently, they're the same thing. Just rename your files to M2TS and use AVStoDVD directly.

[godwentpunk]

crap...Renaming does not work. I keep getting an error
"ChangeFPS-Ratio must be less that 10 for linear access. Set LINEAR=false"

I tried looking to where this setting might be but I can't. Any ideas???

joe..

[godwentpunk]

Ok, I figured out how to modify the settings.

Once you load your video, right click on the video. Click on the EDIT TITLE menu item. From there, click on the avisynth TAB. Uncheck the AUTO option and then make your changes to the script you want run. Unfortunately, I can't figure out the syntax although I did find the documentation for it. I removed the ChangeFPS option and added a AssumeFPS and I can get things to work but the fps sucks. So, maybe once I figure out the ChangeFPS syntax, things will work!

joe...

[_MrC_]

@godwentpunk

to load a not listed video format in AVStoDVD you have just to select "All files (*.*)" and then choose your video file. BTW in the next release I will add mts (MPEG 2/4 TS) files to the available list.

About the ChangeFPS error, could you post here the whole script?

Remember, try to not use AssumeFPS for A/V frame rate conversion. It causes out of sync errors. From the AviSynth doc:

The AssumeFPS filter changes the frame rate without changing the frame count (causing the video to play faster or slower).

Bye

[godwentpunk]

Why do you have to convert to MPEG2 with Emicsoft? Can't AVStoDVD do the conversion directly from the MTS? It seems like you're introducing a 2nd encode step, which wastes time and degrades your video's quality (worsened by the 9000Kbps limitation).

When I use AVStoDVD, it still wants to go through some encoding process using either QuEnc or HCenc which both have a 9000Kbps and a 720x576 resolution limitation. I've not found a way to tweak these settings? Is there a different encoder that I can use instead of these two?

I am getting better quality results using the HCenc decoder.

joe...

[creamyhorror]

HCenc is a good encoder I hear. Sorry, I don't know much about MPEG2 encoding. I would think that 9000Kbps is more than enough for SD, though.

DVDs are only SD so the 720x576 limit does make sense.

[godwentpunk]

HCenc is a good encoder I hear. Sorry, I don't know much about MPEG2 encoding. I would think that 9000Kbps is more than enough for SD, though.

DVDs are only SD so the 720x576 limit does make sense.

I was able to create a DVD that was 1280x720 resolution @9000kbps on a standard DVD which looked good on both DVD and HDTV but I'm using a different tool set to perform this. I still like what I see using AVStoDVD so I'm going to play with this to see what I can find.

joe...

[zoobie]

sounds like you're making data discs and sending the signal to a tv set from your DVD drive

[godwentpunk]

sounds like you're making data discs and sending the signal to a tv set from your DVD drive

My DVDs are DVD formatted with the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS directories so I'm think they are DVD file structured.

joe...

[creamyhorror]

My DVDs are DVD formatted with the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS directories so I'm think they are DVD file structured.

1280x720 isn't a legal format for DVD-video. Are you sure the program you used didn't simply downscale it to 720x576? What program is it, anyway?

[godwentpunk]

1280x720 isn't a legal format for DVD-video. Are you sure the program you used didn't simply downscale it to 720x576? What program is it, anyway?

I'll need to check but I don't think so. The program first encoded at 1280x720 and then burnt that image to my dvd. The software I used was Emicsoft.

joe...

[creamyhorror]

The Emicsoft site looks a bit dodgy. If it's really turning out 720p DVD-video, then the software certainly is dodgy. If you put it in a normal DVD player, it's almost definitely not going to play.

Which Emicsoft software did you use?

[zoobie]

Some companies (slugs) often repackage others rippers, authors, and converters for a year or two then rename them once again to avoid detection. With video now exploding, it's little wonder that everybody wants to be a producer of sorts...even if it just means rehashing other's work.

I'm not saying this is the case here...just a heads up.

Your DVD needs to be made to specs or it won't play.
Read up on "What is DVD" on the left menu.